The "Wow" Table

In our part of the country - the Ohio River Valley in Southeastern Indiana - there grows a particular kind of wood called curly cherry that is more prevalent here than in most other parts of the country. Building tables out of curly cherry has become our specialty.

Curly cherry has a unique grain--in fact, a secondary grain--that when finished in the proper way, results in an amazing 3-dimensional look.

It is impossible to show the true character of this dramatic grain in a 2-dimensional photograph - but you can get the idea.

Each curly cherry tree has its own curly version, almost like its own unique fingerprint, that is different than all the other curly cherry. We search for only the most highly figured boards - the curliest of the curly, so to speak. Consequentially, it is a challenge to find enough of the same curly boards to make a large table. The size and number of boards of the same curly style will dictate how large the table can be.

Curly cherry is one of the most unusual and beautiful boards of all the wood species grown in the United States. Its remarkable grain character is unmatched and has become the primary wood for our most artistic tables.

The "Wow" Table is a curly cherry table where the sapwood as well as the heartwood is included in the table top to create a very distinctive design.

If you look at a cross-section of a tree trunk or fresh-cut log, you will find the heartwood in the center of the tree. This is strong, dense wood that acts as the skeleton of the tree. Surrounding the outside of the heartwood is the sapwood, usually about 1 - 3 inches thick depending on the size of the tree. The sapwood is the circulatory system of the tree - it's where the sap moves up the tree to nourish the leaves and branches.

When you cut the log into planks, you will usually have a bit of sapwood on both edges of the board. The sapwood is generally a lighter color than the heartwood. In cherry, the sapwood is very light, a yellowish-white color.

In order to create a natural cherry table that has only the reddish color wood, the sapwood must be eliminated (or stained). However, with curly cherry wood, the sapwood can be as distinctively curly as the heartwood, and offers a unique artistic look.

If we are lucky enough to find boards that still have sapwood all the way down both edges of the board, they will create what looks like a natural stripe when the boards are positioned side-by-side. You have probably never seen a cherry grain design like this elsewhere - neither have we. We believe it is probably a unique design to our shop and have made it our specialty.

The name "Wow" Table was actually coined by our customers. Because of its extraordinary appearance , we try to have one of these tables on display in our showroom just inside the door - it's the first table you see when entering. For almost half of our new customers visiting for the first time, the first word out of their mouths is "wow", so we concluded this must be the most accurate description of the table.

Contact us by E-mail at robert@madisontableworks.com or call us at (812) 273-5050 so we can get started designing your own personal table!